Decentralized Web
- Why It Matters
The early internet was decentralized by design—a mesh of nodes with no center. That has changed. Today, a handful of companies (Google, Meta, Amazon, Cloudflare) mediate most online activity, creating obvious problems: a single takedown request can erase content globally, centralized data stores invite mass surveillance, and platform bans.
- Technical Approaches
- Peer-to-Peer
P2P networks distribute data across participating machines. You fetch content from many peers rather than one server.
- IPFS** stores files by content hash—the address *is* the content's fingerprint. Good for permanence and integrity, but everything is public by default. You need to encrypt before uploading if you want privacy.
- BitTorrent** remains the most battle-tested distribution system. The tradeoff: your IP address is visible to everyone in the swarm unless you tunnel through a VPN or Tor.
- Tor** routes traffic through multiple relays, hiding who's talking to whom. It works, it's slow, and exit nodes see unencrypted traffic (so use HTTPS). The network has survived two decades of adversarial pressure, which says something.
- I2P** takes a different approach—it's designed primarily for hidden services within the network rather than accessing the clearnet. Smaller user base means less anonymity set, but also less attention from adversaries.
- Distributed Ledgers
Blockchains provide tamper-evident records without trusted intermediaries. The privacy implications are mixed.
- Federation
Federation sits between full decentralization and centralization. Independent servers run compatible software and talk to each other.
- What Decentralization Actually Protects
Censorship resistance is real but not absolute. Content spread across thousands of nodes can't be killed by pressuring one host. This matters for dissidents, journalists, and anyone facing platform discrimination. It also protects content that probably shouldn't be protected—decentralized systems struggle with moderation without recreating the centralized control they're designed to escape.